'20-second plunge': Football star's final moments before fatal plane crash
Investigators have released details of Emiliano Sala’s final moments before the plane he was travelling in crashed into the English Channel.
Pilot David Ibbotson, 59, was flying 28-year-old Argentine striker Sala to his new Premier League club Cardiff City from his previous side in Nantes in France on January 21 when the accident happened.
On Tuesday, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) detailed the doomed plane’s route and outlined what went wrong.
The AAIB said the plane took off from Nantes Airport at 1915 GMT.
At 1958 GMT, Jersey air traffic control asked the pilot if the plane’s altimeter was working because the radar indicated it was flying lower than it should have been.
The weather radar at the time showed “a band of showers, some heavy, passing through the area”.
Four minutes later the pilot requested clearance to descend.
The controller asked if the plane required another descent to which the pilot responded: “Negative, just avoided a patch there, but back on heading five thousand feet.”
At 2012 GMT, Ibbotson did request a further descent.
The plane then descended twice and ascended twice before disappearing from the radar.
Two independent radars showed the aircraft descend from around 3900ft to 1600ft in about 22 seconds after making a left-hand turn. “During this turn, data from two independent radars (Guernsey and Jersey) showed the aircraft descend to an altitude of about 1,600 ft at an average rate of approximately 7,000 ft/min,” the report said.
“A few seconds later… the final secondary radar return was recorded, which indicated that the aircraft may have climbed rapidly to about 2,300 ft.”
The wreckage was found on the seabed at a depth of approximately 68 metres, the report said, as investigators released fresh pictures of the plane.
“The aircraft was extensively damaged, and the main body of the aircraft was in three parts held together by electrical and flying control cables,” it said.
“The engine had disconnected from the cockpit areas, and the rear section of the fuselage had broken away from the forward section adjacent to the trailing edge of the wing.”
Search continues for pilot’s body
Sala’s body was recovered from the wreckage.
Ibbotson has never been found, although his family are hoping a crowdfunding campaign will help raise funds for an underwater search.
The report said two seat cushions, an arm rest and what may have been a piece of fuselage washed up on the French coast, while a seat cushion was found on Jersey.
The aircraft was not fitted with black box data and voice recorders and was not required to be.
with agencies